Flattening (or delayering) of hierarchies within an organization has been called for by much recent literature. In theory, flattening is supposed to help push decisions downwards to enhance customer and market responsiveness and improve accountability and morale. In this Idea, however, Harvard Business School’s Professor Julie Wulf suggests that many companies that flatten their hierarchies […]
Read More… from Flattened Organizations: When Cons Outweigh Pros
With multiple social media outlets in existence, should executives spend time maintaining different profiles simultaneously, and how can this help their communication teams in general? Especially now that social media are no longer a uniquely private playground; instead, professional and private purposes have merged to create a valuable space for communicators. European communication practitioners frequently […]
Read More… from Communicating Multiple Roles through Social Media
Salespeople are a force to be reckoned within organizations. Situated at the interface between companies and customers, they play a key role in business performance. “We don’t talk about it much, especially in France. However, without salespeople, in most cases, there is no business,” says Dominique Rouziès. “They are both ambassadors of their company for […]
Read More… from Global Sales Teams and the Impact of National Culture
We know that companies need to start moving away from traditional strategies for management development, and consider the skills required to improve chances of success. Leading executive education specialists have suggested that the most important of these skills is empathy. Most leadership theories suggest the ability to have and display empathy is an important part […]
How can companies help their employees reclaim lost dreams—in both professional and non-professional contexts? Those companies able to do so will go a long way towards addressing some of the problems currently confronting not only their organizations, but society in general. A ‘dream’ can be described as a possibility that a person imagines for his/her […]
Read More… from Helping Employees Realize Their Dreams: The Search for Meaning
Are entrepreneurs born or made? Commonly, characteristics such as risk seeking, assertiveness and vision are considered typical of a successful entrepreneur. But these are innate predispositions or aspects of temperament; by using them as yardstick, it is wrongly concluded that only certain types of people make good entrepreneurs or are capable of worthwhile innovations. Instead, […]
Read More… from Three Competencies Every Entrepreneur Should Develop
What we usually consider to be ‘elusive’ group dynamics that characterize high-performing teams, such as; energy, creativity, and shared commitment – are actually observable, quantifiable, and measurable qualities. And as such, teams can be taught how to strengthen them. The key lies in understanding the patterns of communication associated with productive teams, which include; energy, […]
Read More… from Communication and the Science of Great Team Building
Gaining and retaining influence will forever be a vital component of leadership and this Idea shows that listening has a positive association with influence, over and above verbal expression. "We can process language at 300 to 500 words per minute; however, most people speak around 100 words per minute. The extra capacity makes it difficult […]
It is universally acknowledged; we hear our most successful leaders espouse its importance all the time – but ‘trust’ in an organization can be infuriatingly intangible, and a slippery thing to quantify indeed. What we do know is that trust is vital to success – while on the other hand distrust can be disastrous; leading […]
Read More… from Creating a Culture of Trust in Organizations
Following an economic crisis, organizations often find themselves needing to do more with less employees. Is this possible? How can organizations construct a flexible workforce of highly-skilled workers that supplement existing full-time staff with the same level of commitment? There is a spectrum of different types of employment relationships that exist, from traditional full-time jobs […]
